MBABANE:His Royal Highness Prince Mguciso,the Chairperson of the Land Management Board says, foreigners cannot be allocated Eswatini Nation Land(ENL)through the ‘kukhonta’ traditional custom.
Responding to this Swaziland News on Thursday when asked by this journalist to clarify confusion in a halted filling station project after Lobamba Lomdzala Inner Council ‘sold’ Eswatini Nation Land(ENL) to Asian businessman Cyrus Patel,the Prince clarified that, this was against Eswatini Law and Custom and the laws of the country.
Constitutionally,the land is held by King Mswati in trust for the Eswatini Nation and one member of the royal family told this publication that,the Asian businessman has been struggling to secure a King’s consent through a traditional association known as Swazi Commercial Amadoda.
A King’s consent is a document signed by the King authorizing an aspiring businessperson to establish a business on Eswatini Nation Land(ENL),a trading license cannot be processed or approved without the document.
“It is wrong Nkhosi but,foreigners are not allowed to own land on Eswatini Nation Land but,what we are seeing now,some Chiefs are allocating land to foreigners and unfortunately,our powers as the Board are limited when it comes to calling Chiefs to order”,said the Prince.
It is alleged that,the Asian businessman was struggling to secure a trading license for the filling station as the Swazi Commercial Amadoda only consider indigenous businesses on Eswatini Nation Land(ENL).
Efforts to reach Mbiya Fakudze,the Lobamba Lomdzala alleged Indvuna(Governor) proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.
But the Asian businessman Cyrus Patel when reached for comments by this publication on Friday evening said,someone was already processing the trading license for him.
“It’s true I’ve been struggling to secure the license but someone is now doing it for me”, said the businessman.
But it is not clear how the Asian businessman managed to start processing the trading license on eSwatini Nation Land for the filling station, the project was halted after the technicalities on whether Patel qualifies for a trading license or not after the Inner Council allocated him the land.
The halted filling station.